Troops from two South Korean army units stationed near the North Korea border were recently ordered to delete applications from their smartphones that were deemed pro-North Korean or critical of South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

The commander of the Sixth Army Corps issued a ban on four pro-North Korean and six anti-Lee applications on Jan. 17. The ban was reported earlier this week in the South Korean press.

Apps banned for Sixth Army Corps officers include “North Korea World,” a source of travel information for the communist country; “Smart Card,” which criticizes the Lee administration’s unification policy; and “I’m a Petty-minded Creep,” a political satire about Lee. Officers’ smartphones were inspected in late January to make sure they did not contain the prohibited apps.  [Stars & Stripes]

New male cadets attend a ceremony at the Armed Forces Nursing Academy in the central city of Daejeon on Jan. 30, 2012, to officially join the academy. It marks the first time male cadets have entered the nursing school. (Yonhap)

ROK Army conduct river crossing training on the Namhanggang River near Yeoju.

Via the Chosun Ilbo.

Korea’s Navy has appointed its first two female officers to command fast attack craft, as it looks to expand female presence on vessels in operation, officials said Monday.

“We’ve finalized a plan to name female captains to command our Chamsuri boat patrolling the South Sea,” a high-ranking military source said, referring to a 150-ton patrol vessel. “Last Thursday, we named two female officers on a trial basis.”

According to the source, Adm. Choi Yun-hee, the Navy’s chief of staff, briefed Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin on this plan last week.

The two officers are Cpt. Hong Yu-jin, 34, and Cpt. Ahn Hyo-ju, 31. They will command Chamsuri-type vessels from the Navy’s Jinhae Base, about 410 kilometers south of Seoul, in patrolling waters off Jinhae Port.

Hong, whose husband, Jeong Min-jae, is a Navy lieutenant commander, joined the Navy in 2002. Ahn, married to a Navy captain, in 2003 became the first female officer to graduate from the Korea Naval Academy.

“Being the first brings a lot of pressure,” Ahn said. “But I will try to blaze a trail for many young female officers to follow.”  [Korea Times]

For those wondering here is some more info on the Chamsuri class ships they will be commanding.

The government will ease physical qualifications for mandatory military service, allowing a range of people to serve who had been turned away before, including extra-tall and sterile men.

The Ministry of National Defense said in a statement released yesterday it will revise an ordinance on physical qualifications for conscription in order to “rationalize the standard of disease and raise fairness of physical qualification.” The new rules will take effect at this year’s first inspection on Feb. 8, the ministry said.

“Previously, the government had strict physical criteria in selecting healthy men, excluding those with heart disease or poor eyesight,” Kim Tae-bong, an official at the Ministry of National Defense told the Korea JoongAng Daily. “However, as medical skills develop, people with some diseases can now be easily cured.”

Although specific changes weren’t announced, the ministry gave a series of examples that are likely to be included in the new qualifications.

The height limit will be raised from 194 centimeters (6.37 feet) to 204 centimeters. Sterile men and those with disorders related to sex such as erectile dysfunction will also be qualified.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more about the new medical changes for conscripts at the link.

A shipment of 69 surface-to-air missiles impounded by Finnish authorities was a legitimate delivery from Germany to South Korea, a German official said Thursday.

The announcement came after Finnish authorities seized the Patriot missiles and 160 tons of explosives on a British-registered cargo ship and detained two Ukrainian crew members on suspicion of violating weapons export laws.

Police said the missiles didn’t have the right transit documents and the explosive picric acid wasn’t properly stored on the M/S Thor Liberty, which docked in Kotka, southern Finland, on Dec. 15.

A spokesman for Germany’s Defense Ministry said the missiles were an official shipment that was fully declared and had all necessary clearings from German authorities.

“Those patriot guided missiles are from the Bundeswehr’s stocks and have been shipped to South Korea,” according to an intergovernmental treaty, he said, declining to be named in line with government policy.  [Korea Times]

Washington opposes revising the guidelines that restrict South Korea’s missile range to less than 300 kilometers (186 miles), Chosun reported Dec. 4. Officials from the United States and South Korea failed to come to an agreement when they discussed the issue at the South Korean Defense Ministry on Dec. 1, but agreed to meet again in early 2012. Washington is reportedly concerned that extending the range would provoke North Korea and impact its relations with China. A government official said the United States is concerned that extending the range to 1,000 kilometers would bring Beijing within reach.  [STRATFOR]

Korea is pushing to revise a bilateral pact with the United States that limits the former’s ballistic missile range to 300 kilometers with a maximum payload of 500 kilograms by early 2013, a government source said Monday.

He pointed out that Seoul has the upper hand in ongoing negotiations with Washington as it plans to purchase as much as 14 trillion won ($12.3 billion) of weapons from abroad next year, mostly from the United States.

“The United States will be pressured to take Korea’s growing calls for the revision of the bilateral pact seriously as it is eager to sell weapons such as the Global Hawk, which carries a payload of 1 ton and flies more than 22,000 kilometers,”the source said.

According to a military source, Korea is also seeking to buy long-range cruise missiles with a range of 370 kilometers and a warhead of 450 kilograms from the United States for 400 billion won.

Citing an unnamed government official, the Munhwa Ilbo claimed Monday that the Lee Myung-bak administration plans to conclude its ongoing negotiations with Washington by the end of its term in office, February 2013.

“The government aims to increase the military’s maximum ballistic missile range from 300 to 800 kilometers and the warhead mass from 500 to 800 kilograms,” the paper reported.

There have been growing calls to revise the pact following the North’s development of long-range missiles and its conducting of nuclear tests, as well as a series of provocative acts.

Some argue that the range should be more than 1,000 km to bring all of North Korea within reach and the payload weight to more than 1 ton.   [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I wonder if this has as much to do with having not only all of North Korea within the range of the ROK’s missiles, but Beijing as well?

The South Korean Navy launched a routine maneuvering exercise Tuesday in the Yellow Sea.

The one-day drill was designed to prepare against possible North Korean infiltration of territorial waters including the North crossing the Northern Limit Line (NLL) maritime border.

The exercise took place in waters off Pyeongtaek Port with the participation of Sejong the Great, South Korea’s first Aegis destroyer and some 20 other destroyers, frigates and patrollers.

A Lynx anti-ship helicopter, P-3C anti-submarine surveillance aircraft, an Air Force tactical aircraft and an Army helicopter were also mobilized.

A Navy official says the exercise will be held under many different scenarios that can occur on sea and is aimed at enhancing interoperability and joint operational capabilities of units from all branches of the military.  [KBS Global]

For those that don’t remember during the prior left wing administrations, when the North Koreans committed their provocations with the most notorious being the 2002 West Sea Naval Battle, the Korean government told the families of the sailors that were murdered by North Korea to be quiet about the incident and sent no flag officers to attend a memorial ceremony or even offer any condolescences. USFK however did send representatives to the ceremony and USFK Commander General LaPorte offered the families his condolescences.

One wife of a deceased sailor was so fed up with Korea, that she left Korea for good and went to the United States. This is what she said before boarding the plane:

“If the indifference and inhospitality shown to those soldiers who were killed or wounded protecting the nation continue, what soldier will lay down his life in the battlefield?”

Here’s a quote from one of the fathers of one of the murdered sailors that really struck a cord with me:

The father said, “My son is buried in the National Cemetery. But I’m going to take my son’s remains to my family burial site in my hometown.” Having watched the situation develop, he thought his son who was killed by North Korean soldiers was considered nothing more than a criminal.

Some parents said that they are more scared of people who consider the U.S. a bigger enemy than North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who killed their son. We lose courage to defend the country, when we hear that a wife whose husband fell in the battle is preparing to leave this country. Reading a condolence letter from the USFK commander to mark the second anniversary, the wife said, “The Americans remember my husband and his brothers-in-arms better than Koreans… Frankly, I hate Korea.”

I just hope that when the Korean left likely retakes power again next year that they don’t go back to the old ways of treating those who protect the country as criminals and instead allow the ROK military to continue to take a strong posture to deter North Korean aggression.